Fastelaven

Last night, we went to Brian and Janne's house for dinner. It was good to spend time with them and Broderick and Krister had fun playing together. Here they are together on a scooter. Every child over here has one of these scooters and they can really move on them.
Today is Fastelaven. Their holiday similar to Halloween as where kids dress up and then they go door to door tomorrow and have to sing a song - but they usually get money at the houses they go to, not candy. We went to church today with our friends Heine and Tina. They were having a special Fastelaven service. Broderick was excited to see his friends, but was scared to death of Jeppe (the lion). He wouldn't have anything to do with him for a long time. It was quite funny.

Here's Broderick and Jeppe, Broderick is actually standing somewhat close to him and not screaming. =D

Then this afternoon we took Broderick to a Fastelaven party in our town that was organized through his gym class.

Its tradition on this holiday to put a black cat in a wooden barrel and beat it. This is supposed to scare away any evil spirits. I don't know about the evil spirits, but I wouldn't want to be around that cat when it came out. Now, they still have a wooden barrel, but its filled with candy - basically a really tough pinata. Broderick wanted nothing to do with it the first time through the line, but then loved hitting it his next turn. Here's Broderick and Krister. Krister has a crown on his head because he (and his dad) are the ones who broke the barrel.

These are traditional Fastelaven boller, a roll filled with cream and has some frosting on top. You can only buy them around this holiday and they are very good.

After the wooden barrels and the snack, then they filled up a big inflatable jumping mat and Broderick loved it, as you can see from his smile.

Today was a very fun day. And it was warm, about 7 degrees celsius. All the snow we've had all week was about gone when we woke up this morning. After supper Brad and Broderick went on a bike ride and we've just been relaxing ever since.

I've been having horrible heartburn at night, so I'm not sleeping well at all. Last night Brad moved to the guest room. I guess he doesn't sleep well either when I'm up all night. =) I go back to the doctor on wednesday and I'll see what she wants me to take. Less than 4 weeks now, so time is running out.